José Ignacio Sánchez Amor in Cracow about local government

José Ignacio Sánchez Amor, the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy in the Spanish Ministry of Territorial Policy and Civil Service will attend the 5th European Congress of Local Governments.

José Ignacio Sánchez Amor will participate in the plenary session where together with other speakers will discuss whether democracy can actually exist without self-government and direct involvement of the local residents in regional affairs makes. In the plenary session will take part also: Zdzislaw Krasnodebski, Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament, Irakli Kadagishvili, the State Governor of the Georgian of Kakheti Region and Martin Zeil, former minister of economy of Bavaria.

Spain has three levels of territorial organization: 17 autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas), 50 provinces (provincia) and more than 8100 municipalities (municipio). Each community has its own statute which regulates the institutional law of the autonomy and its executive and legislative branches. Each region also have a single chambered regional parliament, the autonomous administration which differs from the federation only by the lack of constitutional power. Thanks to this administrative division and decentralization of power, the autonomies could adjust the national legislation to regional means.

José Ignacio Sánchez Amor holds a degree in law from the Complutense University of Madrid. He held various positions in the government of Extremadura, he was among others, the secretary general of the Technical and Labor Department, the director of the Office of President Junt de Estremadura in 1996-2004. In 2004 he became the vice-president of the Extremadura Government. PSOE Former MP between 2011 and 2018 and spokesperson in the Foreign Affairs Committee and in EU Committee. Chair of the Spanish delegation at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (2016-2018). Special Representative on OSCE Border Issues (2012-2018). Since june 2018 he was appointed secretary of state for territorial policy.